Was that skilled comment for me?
It was the great team spotting and stacking.

On my first Cruise Moab in 2000, I was kinda scared and daunted. I had seen videos and wasn't sure I could do this stuff. Rob Merideth, our Rising Sun Commander at that time and mentor to me, said to me "pick your lines and watch your Trail Leader, you'll be fine". He also said that it was 90% driver skill and 10% rig. Since then I have come to agree with him.

Bone stock Toyota 4x4s are very capable, but the nut behind the wheel makes all the difference. Scott in his non-SAS 3rd gen Runner with 33s and a locker (I know he's now locked up front, but didn't used to be) showed that with all the trails he's run, and led.

So Micah, no that comment wasn't for you so much as an exclamation of what those pictures looked like as far as trail difficulty.

Such a fun Time!
I'm glad to poach some of these pics as I didn't have our nice camera with us. I'm almost as proud of the spotting picture as I am of the driving ones! It was fun helping people down their lines on the trails!

Looking at Corbet's pic of Jaderunner on Cliffhanger made me shudder. I don't recognize who the spotter is that's standing on the downhill side of the obstacle but that just seems to be the worst possible place to be with Scot's truck where it is.
Another observation made during the pre-run is that Razr-type vehicles are taking over the Moab scene. Unlicensed vehicles running all over town, through parking lots and on the roads in and around town. What they are doing to soft sections of trail is pretty radical - think moguls spaced about two feet apart - like speed bumps and it makes for a rocking horse ride in a truck. In two days of being on the trail, Cheeseman, Art Volmer and I saw very few full-sized vehicles. I remember only a couple on Wipeout Hill and Tusher Tunnel and NONE on Gold Bar Rim and only saw one group of buggies on the first mile of Rusty Nail. Tons of Razrs, however. The wheeling world is changing dramatically, IMO.

Thanks to all who participated in another successful Cruise Moab Trail Leader Training Pre-Run. Looks like we're in very good shape on having leaders-gunners on all of the trails.

Great fun and an opportunity to meet old and make new friends.

Thanks to all who attended and a special thanks to Micha for the food and refreshments!

__________________Dave K,TLCA#20150,KFØDOG,'69 FJ40-"Toyolet",'92 FJ80 {Isuzu diesel conversion underway} ,2011 Replica M416 w/RTT,'98 Taco Xtracab 4X4,Project='72 FJ40,'05 Passat TDI-DD."It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority." "A republic, if you can keep it". Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money [to spend]." Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013

Another observation made during the pre-run is that Razr-type vehicles are taking over the Moab scene. Unlicensed vehicles running all over town, through parking lots and on the roads in and around town. What they are doing to soft sections of trail is pretty radical - think moguls spaced about two feet apart - like speed bumps and it makes for a rocking horse ride in a truck. In two days of being on the trail, Cheeseman, Art Volmer and I saw very few full-sized vehicles. I remember only a couple on Wipeout Hill and Tusher Tunnel and NONE on Gold Bar Rim and only saw one group of buggies on the first mile of Rusty Nail. Tons of Razrs, however. The wheeling world is changing dramatically, IMO.

Disheartening to hear. I wonder the impact this will have during CM. Some trails will have 15 vehicles or more on them. Running into a group of RAZR's could cause a bottleneck. They obviously can travel much faster than vehicles on the trail. Maybe it's something that all trail leaders/gunners should discuss with their groups?

We had an issue at 100s in the Hills this year with a group of them on Poughkeepsie Gulch. They wanted by so badly that they rode us hard, but there was no safe place to pass on the uphill shelf road. Once we made room, pulled to the side and stopped, we waved them through. One of them tagged a friends 100 and traded some paint. The guy never stopped. We did catch back up with them and someone asked "Did you realize you hit one of our trucks?" and his response was "Well, you shouldn't have let us pass then". It could have went south very quickly right then...... but we let it go.

Disheartening to hear. I wonder the impact this will have during CM. Some trails will have 15 vehicles or more on them. Running into a group of RAZR's could cause a bottleneck. They obviously can travel much faster than vehicles on the trail. Maybe it's something that all trail leaders/gunners should discuss with their groups?

We had an issue at 100s in the Hills this year with a group of them on Poughkeepsie Gulch. They wanted by so badly that they rode us hard, but there was no safe place to pass on the uphill shelf road. Once we made room, pulled to the side and stopped, we waved them through. One of them tagged a friends 100 and traded some paint. The guy never stopped. We did catch back up with them and someone asked "Did you realize you hit one of our trucks?" and his response was "Well, you shouldn't have let us pass then". It could have went south very quickly right then...... but we let it go.

Reminds me of the 40's Only Run a few years ago when we were running the Swan loop. We ran into multiple groups 10+ of those things and had a tough time getting them past. I even had a pretty heated exchange with one guy. We found out that the majority of them were rentals/tourist groups from Summit County, so it isn't just Moab thats being over run!

Razrs are everywhere we are these days. I would speculate that they have outnumbered not only dirt bikes but regular ATVs as well. I know the past couple of Cruise Moabs there have been tons of them out there, and same with every local trail ride as well. The only place I haven't seen them is Spring Creek. I know Christo and Woody typically brings their to Moab, and I remember one year Woody did Pritchett in his!

Like we do for all the other trail users, we need to lead by example of courtesy and sharing as much as practical.

Looking at Corbet's pic of Jaderunner on Cliffhanger made me shudder. I don't recognize who the spotter is that's standing on the downhill side of the obstacle but that just seems to be the worst possible place to be with Scot's truck where it is.

Steve, that picture is some what deceptive in depth of field but I see your point now looking at it. While taking photos I don't once recall seeing anyone in a bad spot. Yoder was backing off at the time of that photo by the way. I believe Clayton was moving in to stack some rocks.